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The Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course
Lesson 30
1986

FEAST OF TABERNACLES

When the Whole World Will Be Called

Only after Christ returns to earth and
deposes Satan will the great spiritual harvest of humans
begin.

GOD is not in competition with Satan! He is not trying to save the
whole world now!

Long ago Jesus Christ announced that His message, the good news of
the Kingdom of God, would be preached in this age merely as a witness
to all nations--not to convert them (Matt. 24:14).

When God sets His hand to save the world, He will save it!

When the World Will Be Saved

God's seven annual festivals picture the steps in God's Master
Plan of salvation for all mankind.

The first three festivals, which occur during the spring in the
Northern Hemisphere, picture great events leading to the first
spiritual harvest of Spirit-begotten human beings into God's
Family.

From previous lessons we learned that the Passover is a memorial
of Christ's sacrifice for our sins. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
pictures our putting sin away and our constant need to obey God.
Pentecost pictures the spiritual begettal and the maturing of the
firstfruits of God's plan.

Then, during the fall in the Northern Hemisphere, come the last
four festivals. They portray tremendous events yet to occur in God's
plan. The Feast of Trumpets, the first of these four, pictures the
return of Jesus Christ to raise the firstfruits to immortality and to
set up God's government on earth. The Day of Atonement pictures the
deposing, removal and binding of Satan for 1,000 years. With Satan's
sinful influence gone, mankind can then be reconciled--made at
one--with God.

Then 1,000 years of peace and prosperity will follow. Those who
are the firstfruits of God's spiritual harvest--first born into God's
Family and co-inheritors with Jesus Christ--will join Him in ruling
the earth. The Spirit-born saints will be given the opportunity of
bringing the spiritual knowledge of salvation to every human then
alive and to those born during the Millennium.

This happy Millennium is pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles--the
sixth of God's seven annual festivals Picturing His plan of
salvation.

Early Theologians Acknowledged the Millennium

The New Testament Church taught the meaning and observance of
God's festivals and Holy Days throughout the Roman Empire. Even many
in the early Christianity that fell away from the truth retained for
some time the doctrine of the Millennium--the 1,000-year rule of
Christ and the Spiritborn saints (Rev. 20:1-6). The fact of the
Millennium was commented on for hundreds of years--long after the
death of the apostles.

Notice the testimony from the writings of theologians of the
second and third centuries:

In the second century, Papias of Hierapolis (in Asia Minor) is
quoted as having said: "There would be a certain millennium after the
resurrection, and that there would be a corporeal reign of Christ on
this very earth" (Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius, translated by
Isaac Boyle, book 3, chapter 39).

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, France, wrote in the latter half of the
second century: "For in as many days as this world was made, in so
many thousand years it reaches its consummation."

Then, after quoting several Old Testament passages referring to
the Millennium, he continues: "All such things refer not to heavenly
matters, but to the times of the kingdom, when the earth has been
restored by Christ" (Against the Heresies, translated by F. R.
Montgomery Hitchcock, book 5, chapters 28, 35).

The early third century produced the same testimony. From
Carthage, North Africa, Tertullian acknowledged the possibility of a
promised Millennium on the earth (Against Marcion, book 3, chapter
25). Later writers, too, could be cited.

Truth Later Rejected

In the fourth century the book of Revelation was removed from the
general reading list of the established Christian church. Why?
Because it plainly referred to the Millennium. "Thus the troublesome
foundation on which chiliasm [a Greek word for the doctrine of
the Millennium] might have continued to build was got rid of"
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, article "Millennium").

Writing about this period of time, Edward Gibbon, in his book The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, states: "The doctrine of
Christ's reign upon earth was...considered by degrees as a doubtful
and useless opinion, and was at length rejected [by false
Christianity] as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism"
(chapter 15).

During and after the reign of Emperor Constantine, who ruled from
A.D. 306-337, leaders in the established Christian church began to
look upon the Roman Empire as the Kingdom of God. They began to view
the millennial rule of Jesus Christ as having already begun!

Some professing Christian leaders of the 20th century have even
gone so far as to claim that the doctrine of the millennial rule of
Christ is not to be found in either the New Testament gospels or
epistles, or even in the traditions of the apostles (The Question
Box, William N. Emch, p. 380).

But, now, let's turn to the Bible, the source of truth, and learn
what it reveals about the Millennium, as pictured by the Feast of
Tabernacles.

LESSON 30

God's Harvest--the Feast of Ingathering

God's annual festivals, as we learned in previous lessons, began
to be made known to the congregation of ancient Israel--God's Church
in the wilderness (Acts 7:38)--when the nation was first formed in
Egypt.

Let's notice God's instructions regarding the observance of the
sixth annual festival and how it pictures the coming Millennium, when
the whole world will be converted and given an opportunity for
salvation.

1. Does the Feast of Tabernacles begin five days after the Day of
Atonement? Lev. 23:33-34; Deut. 16:13-15.

2. Does the Feast begin with a Holy Day on which all ordinary work
is forbidden, and on which people are to gather before God? Lev.
23:35. Did God command that this annual festival be kept forever?
Verse 41.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles was also called the Feast of
Ingathering (Ex. 23:16; 34:22) because it celebrated the late
summer-early autumn harvest (Lev. 23:39).

This harvest festival was to be a time of great rejoicing and
thanksgiving for God's abundant blessings. Today, God's Church makes
known to the world that it pictures the future ingathering of the
great harvest of Spirit-begotten human beings into God's Family
during the 1,000-year period known as the Millennium.

3. Does the annual Feast of Tabernacles last for more than one
day? Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:15.

COMMENT: As we learned in previous lessons, God used the two
yearly harvest seasons in the Northern Hemisphere to picture the
future spiritual harvests of mankind into His divine Family.

The spring grain harvest is small compared to the great fall
harvest. The first harvest is represented by a single day--the
Festival of Pentecost. It pictures the spiritual firstfruits, the
relatively small number of people whom God has called into His Church
before Christ's return, when they will be born into God's Family.

But the Feast of Tabernacles lasts a full seven days. This shows
that God's great second harvest of mankind will take a long period of
time to be reaped. People will be born physically, called of God and,
after fulfilling their life's purpose of growing in God's character,
born spiritually into His Family all during the 1,000 years.

4. Who would decide where the Feast of Tabernacles was to be
observed? Deut. 16:16.

COMMENT: Only God, working through His chosen servants, chooses
the place (or places--Ex. 20:24) where the Feast is to be observed,
and only He changes the location--as circumstances warrant.

In ancient Israel, God chose where His people were to keep the
Feast. Today, God works through the government He has placed in His
Church. God leads those in charge to select appropriate Feast sites
around the world to accommodate the members of His Church worldwide.
Tens of thousands of God's people and their families travel to these
sites to observe this great Feast.

Ancient Israel Failed to Keep the Feast

Even though God revealed His festivals to the children of Israel
and commanded that these festivals be kept forever, the people soon
rebelled. Many finally refused to keep the Feast of Tabernacles on
the days God ordained, eventually failing to keep it altogether.
Let's learn what happened, and what the results of their disobedience
were.

1. Where was the place that God originally set His
name--designating it as the place the Feast of Tabernacles was to be
kept? Josh. 18:1. Were some of the children of Israel obedient at
that time in keeping the Feast? Judg. 21:19. And in rejoicing? Verse
21.

2. Did the parents of Samuel, who became one of God's greatest
prophets, keep this Feast every year? I Sam. 1:3, 21; 2:19.

COMMENT: The yearly sacrifice mentioned in these verses refers to
the Feast of Tabernacles.

3. Did God later change the location for the Feast of Tabernacles
and, in the early years of King Solomon, have a temple built there? I
Kings 8:1-2, 10-11. Did Solomon call the people early to the Feast to
spend a week in dedicating the newly finished Temple? Verse 65.

COMMENT: The Israelites observed the Feast of Tabernacles in the
days of Solomon. But even then, the nation did not fully observe it
in the way or manner God commanded (see Nehemiah 8:17).

4. What did wicked King Jeroboam do after he and the northern 10
tribes rebelled against Rehoboam, Solomon's son? I Kings
12:32-33.

COMMENT: Jeroboam assumed that where and when God's Holy Days were
kept didn't really make any difference to God. His action was normal
for a carnal-minded person who knows little about who or what God
really is. Jeroboam's concept of how to worship God was merely his
own human idea (verse 33).

Be sure to read the whole passage from I Kings 12:26 to the end of
chapter 13. The 13th chapter reveals how God mercifully gave Jeroboam
further admonition--backed up by miracles (verses 3-4, 6)--and a
further opportunity to repent.

But Jeroboam did not repent of changing the date the fall
festivals were to be observed (verse 33), and as a result he suffered
a terrible penalty (verse 34).

5. Why did God finally allow the people of Israel and Judah to be
militarily defeated and then deported to foreign lands? Ezek. 20:13,
16, 19-21, 24, 34.

COMMENT: Notice that in these verses the word "sabbaths" is
plural, meaning the annual Sabbaths as well as the weekly Sabbath.
The Bible usually speaks of the weekly Sabbath in the singular.

Because of their continued disobedience--chiefly their utter
disregard of God's weekly and annual Sabbaths--the Israelites, and
later the Jews, were transported into slavery.

6. Had the small remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon under
the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah learned that God is the Lord?
Neh. 8:1.

COMMENT: After 70 years of subservience to Babylon, God had become
real to those few Jews, as well as to those who remained in the lands
of their captivity. They now knew He was really God.

7. Did they immediately begin to keep God's Holy Days, including
the Feast of Tabernacles? Verses 2, 14, 17-18. And did they
immediately set about learning God's laws that, if kept, lead to
peace, happiness and prosperity? Compare Nehemiah 8:18 with
Deuteronomy 31:10-11.

8. Did the remnant of Jews find the Feast of Tabernacles a time of
"very great gladness"? Neh. 8:17-18.

COMMENT: The Holy Days now held vivid meaning for the few thousand
Jews who returned from captivity. Their eyes were open--symbolic of
what will occur to humanity after the Second Coming of Christ.

Jesus Kept the Feast

1. During Jesus Christ's human life, were the descendants of the
Jews who returned still keeping the Feast of Tabernacles? John
7:2.

COMMENT: The Apostle John called the celebration the "Jews' feast"
because he wrote primarily for the Gentiles. Before conversion, the
Gentiles saw the feasts only as a part of the "different" religion of
the Jews. The nation Israel had lost the knowledge of God's Holy
Days, but Judah had preserved the Old Testament Scriptures and the
festivals of God and God's calendar.

2. What unmistakable command did Jesus give His brothers and
sisters? Verse 8.

3. Did Jesus, Himself, keep the Feast? Verse 10. Did everyone know
that Jesus always kept God's feasts and therefore naturally expected
Him to be in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Tabernacles? Verse
11.

COMMENT: Note that Jesus' purpose in going to Jerusalem was not
merely to preach to and instruct people. He had numerous
opportunities to address the multitudes who followed Him
continually.

4. Did Jesus have every reason not to go up to Jerusalem? Verses 1
and 10.

COMMENT: Jesus had been present at the Feast from the first day,
although He did not stand up to teach until near the middle of the
seven days (verse 14). He had arrived secretly and remained out of
the limelight because certain of the religious leaders were
seeking--out of jealousy--to kill Him.

5. Was Jesus merely following an Old Testament practice or was He
setting a New Testament example? Matt. 28:19-20; I Pet. 2:21; I John
2:4-6.

COMMENT: With such dangerous circumstances, if ever there was an
excuse not to attend one of God's feasts, surely this was one. But
Jesus was there--boldly setting us an example that we should do
likewise.

Jesus condemned the errors in the "tradition of the elders" (Matt.
15:2-3, 6, 9). He always made it clear that God's laws were still
binding, and went on to magnify them. Notice His words in Matthew
5:21-22: "Ye have heard...but I say." Christ kept every one of God's
commandments, including all of God's Holy Days.

All Nations to Keep the Feast in the Millennium

1. In the Millennium, will Israelite tribes in addition to Judah
keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Hos. 12:8-9. Will all Gentile nations
join them in keeping the Feast? Zech. 14:9, 16.

COMMENT: After returning to earth in power and glory, Christ will
start immediately to reeducate the people of the world through His
annual festivals. The world will come to know that Christ is the
Lord, and that God's Master Plan pictures the way to physical
blessings and spiritual salvation.

3. What will happen to those nations that at first refuse to keep
the Feast of Tabernacles and thus refuse to be reeducated to God's
way, in their ignorance refusing salvation? Verse 17.

COMMENT: Christ will at first have to rule with "a rod of iron"
(Rev. 12:5), symbolizing absolute authority, until the nations are
convinced that their fathers" ways--their "old-time religions"--do
not lead to salvation.

4. What will happen if nations still refuse to obey? Verses
18-19.

COMMENT: Those with this attitude, who stubbornly refuse to obey,
will suffer from drought. If they still do not change their
attitudes, plagues will afflict them until they submit to God. There
are some who think God doesn't mean they should keep His feasts
today. They say: "Well, I'll keep the days God made holy when I have
to, but I won't keep them now." God allows them to refuse. But only
those who obey Him now will be protected through the time of trouble
just ahead.

Time of Great Physical and Spiritual Rejoicing

1. What is the divinely set theme for the annual observance of the
Feast of Tabernacles? Deut. 16:14-15. (Notice the words surely
rejoice in verse 15. Other translations, such as the Revised Standard
Version, render this "be altogether joyful.")

2. Does God intend for everyone--regardless of age, social class
or economic level--to rejoice during the Feast? Read verse 14 again.
Does God intend for a husband to take his wife and children with him
to rejoice together at the Feast? Deut. 16:14; 12:5, 7, 12.

3. Does God say that good food should be eaten to increase one's
joy and happiness during the Feast? Deut. 14:26.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles is a time of great rejoicing.
For ancient Israel, it was a time of rejoicing because the abundant
winter's food supply was taken in just before the Feast.

But the Feast has far greater significance for God's Church today.
It pictures--is a foretaste of--the prosperity, happiness, joy and
universal peace that will exist worldwide under the righteous rule of
Jesus Christ. Universal adherence to God's laws and revealed way of
life will make the world tomorrow a supremely happy place--a
utopia!

4. Does God command His people to save a second tithe (10th) of
their income throughout the year to be spent in traveling to and
attending the Feast? Deut. 14:22-26.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles gives God's people the
opportunity to live joyfully for one week--to live above what they
would normally be able to afford--that they may experience a
foretaste of the wealth the whole world will enjoy.

5. When the Holy Spirit is poured out freely during the
Millennium, what will happen to the basic attitude or nature of
humans? Ezek. 36:26-27; Isa. 11:9. Will there also be a change in the
nature of animals so that all creatures will be peaceful and
harmless? Isa. 11:6-8; 65:25.

COMMENT: Once God places His Spirit within repentant mankind
during the Millennium, people will begin to express outgoing love and
concern for others and will obey God. This coming change in the very
nature of humans is the chief reason why the Feast of Tabernacles
previews this time with such great rejoicing!

What Christ's Government Will Be Like

The coming government of God will not be a democracy, or any other
form of human government. In the world tomorrow Christ will rule
supreme from world headquarters in Jerusalem (Rev. 19:16; Jer. 3:17).
Ruling with and under Him will be the Spirit-born saints (Dan. 7:14,
27).

Christ will be over the saints. His position will be that of the
Husband. The saints--then immortal children of God--will constitute
the Bride of Christ. They will be in the position of a wife, subject
to her Husband--Christ.

1. In the Millennium, how will Christ's supreme government be
administered in all parts of the earth? Luke 19:17, 19.

COMMENT: Christ was showing through the parable of the pounds that
those who develop their abilities will be rewarded with positions of
rulership. There will be local administrative districts--some larger,
some smaller--that will be administered by the Spirit-born children
of God!

2. Does Luke 13:28 reveal the names of several faithful servants
of God who will be given high positions under Christ in the Kingdom
of God? Who will rule over the modern descendants of Jacob? Jer.
30:7-9; Ezek. 37:24-25.

COMMENT: The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and other men of
God such as Joseph, Job, Moses and David, will be brought back to
life, immortal, in glorified power, to occupy high executive
positions in the new world government.

3. Will Christ have certain other chief assistants, each ruling
over a major nation? Luke 22:29-30; Matt. 19:28.

4. How will the immortal spirit rulers serve the people? Rev. 1:6;
5:10; I Cor. 6:2.

COMMENT: To help curb the possibility of tyranny, many governments
in the world today are divided into separate branches. For example,
in the United States of America, the execute, legislative and
judicial branches of government are separate. Then there is the
teaching field, which, in democratic countries, is separate from
(though in most cases overseen by) the government.

In God's coming Kingdom on earth, however, these four functions
will be united. The Head of the God Family establishes the laws (the
legislative function). The God Family will enforce the laws (the
executive function). It will also interpret those laws and judge
cases concerning them (the judicial function). And the God Family
will be responsible for the educational function--it will faithfully
teach the people God's law.

Each divine ruler will serve his subjects in genuine love and
concern (I John 4:16), never acting selfishly (Matt. 20:26-27).

5. How much power will each ruler exercise, under Christ, in his
own area? Rev. 2:26-27.

COMMENT: Absolute and definite authority will exist on the spot in
all parts of the world. Yet all governmental policies will be based
on the pattern laid down from world headquarters by Christ Himself,
and each ruler under Christ will be responsible to Him. God's
government will be perfectly organized, devoid of useless red tape
and excess baggage bureaucracies.

6. Will this divine government be permanent? Dan. 7:14, 18.

COMMENT: No time or money will be wasted on campaigning and
elections. There will be no politicians to cater to special organized
groups or classes. In the world tomorrow God will appoint His
resurrected saints as the rulers and educators, and no lobbyists or
other pressure groups will be able to corrupt them.

There will be no insurrections, no rebellions--God can't be
overthrown. Satan's failed coup proved that! Nor will any member of
the God Family ever turn into another adversary (I John 3:9). All
members will have been proved in advance during their mortal
lifetime.

7. Will the Spirit-born teachers in God's Family take a personal
part in bringing about a full comprehension of God's law, and in
directing people to take right action? Isa. 30:20-21.

COMMENT: The sudden appearance of the spirit rulers, or a voice,
as if from nowhere, will cause potential lawbreakers to freeze in the
act. With proper guidance from Christ and with Satan's sinful
influence restrained (Rev. 20:1-3), violence and crime will be
stamped out.

8. How successful will the priest-teachers be in teaching the
knowledge of God's way to the world? Jer. 31:34; Hab. 2:14; Isa.
11:9.

9. Will God do more than merely make knowledge available? Compare
Isaiah 25:6-7 with Isaiah 29:10-12 and Romans 11:7-8. (Notice the
words "spread over all nations" in Isaiah 25:7.)

COMMENT: "And in this mountain"--the government of God--He will
make the Millennium one great feast of rejoicing. The Feast of
Tabernacles is the antitype!

God will destroy the covering of spiritual blindness that has
hidden the truth from all nations. No religious confusion will long
exist because Satan will have been restrained. Humans will then be
teachable--their minds will be opened to God's revealed truth.

People will begin to live God's way of love--the way of giving and
outgoing concern for others--the way of the true values--the way of
peace, of happiness, of well-being, of joy and, ultimately, spiritual
salvation.

A World Free from Fear!

In the millennial world pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles,
people will no longer have the influences of Satan and the false
glitter of "this present evil world" to distract them from overcoming
their human nature.

God's way will become the popular and broad way. It will be the
way society will be going. People will want to follow God's way of
life because of the happiness and joy they know it will bring.

Pressures in society that now urge people toward conformity with
this present evil world will then be changed to working toward
conformity with God's standard, toward overcoming human nature and
building perfect, holy and righteous character.

1. When Christ has forcibly put down those who fill the earth with
violence, will He abolish the fear of war? Isa. 2:4. Will He do so by
exercising supreme authority to rebuke many nations? Same verse.

COMMENT: Imagine! Never again any destruction of the fruit of
years of labor! No more waste of human life! No young men drafted
from their homes, their lives upset, to have their minds warped with
hate!

2. Will there be any reason to fear that Christ will be a
tyrannical ruler? Ps. 72:1-4, 8, 12-14; Isa. 11:5. Will He make
perfect decisions? Verses 2-3. Will the poor receive righteous
judgment from Him? Verse 4.

3. Will there be any fear of wild animals? Hos. 2:18, first part;
Isa. 11:6-8; Ezek. 34:25. What about wars--will the weapons of war be
abolished from the earth? Hos. 2:18, last part.

COMMENT: There will be worldwide peace and people will convert
their weapons of war into farming tools. The Millennium will be a
time of peace that will extend even to the animal world.

4. In the secure, rejuvenated world tomorrow, will it be said to
the fearful: "Be strong, fear not...God will...save you"? Isa.
35:4.

5. Will God liberate people from the fear of sickness and disease?
Isa. 33:24; Jer. 30:17. Will the handicapped--both physically and
mentally--be miraculously healed? Isa. 35:3-6.

COMMENT: Education about true health and the miraculous healing of
all sickness and disease will mean radiant health for everyone in the
world tomorrow!

6. Will there be fear of accidents in the Millennium? Notice the
principle of personal responsibility in Exodus 21:29, 33-34 and
22:6.

COMMENT: When God's law goes forth from Zion (Isa. 2:3), the
principle of personal responsibility will be taught worldwide. People
will be concerned about the welfare of others and will be their
"brother's keeper"!

There will be few accidents. But if someone should occasionally be
careless--and God sometimes does allow an accident to teach a
lesson--the miraculous healing power of Christ will be ever
available.

7. Will fear and worry exist in the cities of tomorrow? Or will
they be filled with radiantly happy families? Jer. 33:10-11; Zech.
8:4-5.

COMMENT: People will no longer be afraid of their neighbors. They
won't have to worry about living next door to someone who is mentally
unbalanced, a pervert or a killer. The old won't have to fear being
attacked and brutally beaten by some juvenile delinquent out looking
for fun.

8. Will the fear of food shortages--a spectre that constantly
haunts many areas of the world today--be gone? Ezek. 34:26; Isa.
30:23-24; Amos 9:13; Jer. 31:12. Will the old waste places be made
fertile, and will beautiful forests spread in the Millennium? Isa.
41:14-20; 35:1-2, 6-7.

COMMENT: Most of the earth's land surface will become productive
during the millennial age. Forests, agricultural areas and
fish-filled lakes and streams will be found all over the world, with
no more polluted rivers or ravaged landscapes.

9. Confusion of languages is one of the major barriers to
cooperation between peoples. Will God give the whole world a pure
language so all can serve Him with one accord? Zeph. 3:9.

COMMENT: In the Millennium, Christ will usher in an era of
worldwide literacy and education through a pure language. People
everywhere will speak, read and write that same language.

10. What about the lack of confidence that plagues so many? Will
those who really "know the Lord" dwell with confidence? Ezek.
28:26.

COMMENT: Reeducation will take care of that. People won't be
taught self-confidence, but confidence in Christ dwelling in them
through the Holy Spirit.

11. What kind of fear will remain? Isa. 59:19; Jer. 32:39-40.

COMMENT: This fear is not terror and misery, but the mature,
sound-minded realization that disobeying the laws God has set in
motion for our good leads to nothing but wretchedness, filth and
deprivation.

The Feast of Tabernacles was given that we might learn to fear God
always (Deut. 14:23). People will fear to disobey God, a right kind
of fear that most people do not have in today's world.

Israel to Be Cod's Model Nation

At His return, Christ will deliver the remnant of the descendants
of ancient Israel, who will be made captive in the coming Great
Tribulation. They will not be changed to immortality at Christ's
return, but rather restored to the Promised Land as physical human
beings.

David, who ruled as king over all the tribes of Israel during his
mortal lifetime, will be resurrected to immortality. And as God
promised, David will once again become Israel's king after God unites
the modern-day descendants of ancient Israel.

1. Will the remnant of Israel that are alive at Christ's coming be
eager to enter into a "perpetual covenant" with Him? Jer. 50:4-5.
Will Christ's blood cleanse all Israel so that in living a converted,
truly Christian life, this nation will reach the apex of joy and
gladness and material prosperity? Jer. 33:7-9.

COMMENT: The return from captivity of a very few--mostly from
Judah and Levi--did not fulfill the ultimate intent of this prophecy.
They never attained great prosperity. Nor did they even approach the
degree of wealth Israel possessed under David and Solomon. When this
prophecy is fulfilled, "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:26)!

During the Millennium, God will bestow upon obedient Israel all of
the great material blessings He promised to give their ancestors had
they obeyed (Lev. 26; Deut. 28).

The British nations and the United States--the modern-day
descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh--became the wealthiest and most
powerful nations on earth in this end time (because of Abraham's
obedience to God). But their recent status among nations is only a
foretaste of even greater wealth and power (in God's service) to come
once all of Israel is living in obedience to the government of
God.

2. Abraham's offspring were prophesied to become extremely
numerous (Gen. 13:16). Will Israel's population reach its zenith in
the Millennium? Ezek. 36:10-11; Isa. 60:21-22. How does God describe
this future explosive spread of Israelites into every part of the
globe? Isa. 27:6.

3. Will Israel inherit the whole earth? Isa. 54:2-4. Thus will all
nations be blessed because of Abraham's "seed"? Gen. 28:14. But how?
Isa. 61:9; 62:1-2, 7. Will the Gentiles therefore want to learn God's
way and become obedient to Christ? Isa. 2:1-3.

COMMENT: Israel was intended to be a blessing to the rest of the
world both materially and spiritually. The Gentiles, too, will be
blessed as they follow Israel's outstanding example of obedience to
God! And they will also be blessed spiritually by becoming Abraham's
"seed"--spiritual Israelites-- through Christ (Gal. 3:28-29),
becoming Spirit-begotten and finally Spirit-born into the very Family
of God.

In the Millennium, the 12 tribes of Israel will for the first time
become God's Model nation--the leaders all nations will want to
follow!

The Marriage. of the Lamb

Let's now notice some interesting parallels that can be drawn
between the Feast of Tabernacles and the coming "marriage supper" of
Jesus Christ and His Spirit-born Church.

1. Will the marriage of the Lamb occur after Jesus Christ's
return? Rev. 19:6-7. Will it be an occasion of great rejoicing? Same
verses.

COMMENT: Notice how Christ's marriage is a time for great
rejoicing after the war, darkness and trouble that will occur before
Christ's return, pictured by the Feast of Trumpets!

2. In biblical pattern, how long does a marriage feast last? Judg.
14:2, 10, 12. Does the Feast of Tabernacles span the same length of
time? Lev. 23:34.

COMMENT: The seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles are like the
seven days of the ancient marriage feast and are a type of the
marriage of Christ and His Bride the Church.

3. Like a wife bound to obey her husband as long as he lives, will
the Bride of Christ obey Him forever? I Cor. 7:39; Eph. 5:22-27, 32.
Did Nehemiah read the law to the people every day of the Feast of
Tabernacles? Compare Nehemiah 8:18 with Deuteronomy 31:10-11.

COMMENT: Those who in the Millennium will be added to the Bride of
Christ must learn God's law in their life--and learn it well--so they
can teach it to others in the world tomorrow.

4. Does Christ emphasize in the New Testament the necessity of an
inner change, brought about by the Holy Spirit, to enable one to be
ready for the marriage of the Lamb? Matt. 25:6-10.

5. Did ancient Israel, during the days of Moses, have the heart to
fear and obey God? Deut. 5:29; 29:4. But when they receive the Holy
Spirit, will it enable them to obey? Jer. 32:39-40.

COMMENT: The Sinaitic Covenant was a marriage agreement (Jer.
31:32). When Israel persistently broke the terms of the
agreement--committed spiritual adultery--her sins divorced her from
the One who later became Jesus Christ (Jer. 3:8, 14; 31:32; Isa.
59:2.

God's true Church is composed of spiritually minded Israelites. A
Gentile-born person can enter God's Church only by becoming a
spiritual Israelite (Eph. 2:11-18; Rom. 4:16; 9:4-5; John 4:22).

Christ will not marry another. He will remarry Israel--an Israel
that is immortal and spiritual, not carnal, as at Sinai. Note that
the Bride is- -before the marriage--called His "wife" (Rev. 19:7) in
the sense that it is Israel again, only this time converted,
righteous and spiritual.

Christ, the Lamb, is spirit. His wife must also become spirit, if
it is to be a lasting congenial marriage. She will be a reborn,
purified and cleansed Israel (II Cor. 11:2), who will have "made
herself ready" (Rev. 19:7).

Spiritual Israel will be the rulers of the fleshly nation Israel.
Israelites of the flesh who become qualified, as well as Gentiles,
will be added to God's ruling Family throughout the Millennium as
they are born again.

The entire 54th chapter of Isaiah describes spiritual Israel
remarried to Christ, in contrast with the physical nation of Israel
during the preceding 3,500 years. Notice especially the first six
verses. The Church has been desolate--the truly converted few--until
the making of the New Covenant, a marriage covenant. But fleshly
Israel never multiplied as fast as the Church of converted Israel
will multiply during the Millennium.

The God Family is preparing for the greater things still in the
future. The Millennium is only the beginning of eternity--of
happiness, accomplishment and joy that will last forever.

The Meaning of Booths

The Feast of Tabernacles, besides being called the Feast of
Ingathering, is sometimes called the Feast of Booths. That is because
during the seven days of the Feast, the ancient Israelites were to
live in booths. Let's understand the significance of dwelling in
booths and what it means for God's people today.

1. Were God's people to live in booths--that is, temporary
dwellings-- during the Feast of Tabernacles? Lev. 23:42. What is a
booth? Verse 40.

COMMENT: A booth or tabernacle is a temporary dwelling. God
commanded the ancient Israelites to live in temporary shelters made
of tree branches while observing the Feast of Tabernacles. For God's
people who attend the Feast today in many different climates, tents,
campers, motel or hotel rooms are appointed as temporary
dwellings.

2. Was this manner of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles to be a
continual reminder of Israel's 40-year sojourn in the wilderness?
Verses 42-43. Why? Was it because Israel lived in temporary dwellings
during that time? Verse 43.

COMMENT: During their 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites
had no permanent dwellings. They were merely heirs to the land God
had promised to give them--they were not yet inheritors.

3. Were Israel's years of wandering in Sinai meant to be only a
temporary state of affairs? Deut. 8:2. Was it to last only until the
rebellious generation was dead? Num. 14:29, 33-34.

COMMENT: The rebellious generation in the wilderness is a type of
all carnal, rebellious people. And the temporary dwellings typify the
fact that humans even in the 1,000 years will be mortal, and that
human life and society throughout the Millennium will be only
temporary. What is permanent is eternal life.

4. Did the Israelites' forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also
live in temporary dwellings as heirs, but not yet inheritors? Heb.
11:9, 13.

COMMENT: "Sojourn" is "a temporary stay." Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
were strangers or aliens in the Promised Land, living in a temporary
fashion all their days. They did not then receive the inheritance God
had promised to give them.

Their dwelling in "tabernacles" (booths) pictured that they were
yet only heirs--not yet inheritors--of eternal life in God's Kingdom
and eternal possession of the land.

5. Are true Christians today "strangers and pilgrims" in this
physical life? I Pet. 2:11.

COMMENT: Like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God's Spirit-begotten
children are in the wilderness of this world, but are not of it (John
17:11, 14). They are separate from the world (Rev. 18:4)--heirs, but
not yet inheritors, of their permanent dwelling place, the promised
Kingdom of God!

6. Did Peter, near the end of his life, compare his physical body
to a temporary "tabernacle"? II Pet. 1:14.

COMMENT: As mortal beings, made of the dust of the ground, humans
are destined to die. Only by receiving God's Spirit can a person hope
to live forever.

But Spirit-begotten Christians have the hope of eternal life
abiding in them (I John 5:11). Their physical bodies--with all their
imperfections, their natural desires, their weaknesses, aches and
pains--are meant to last only long enough for them to learn to serve
God in this life.

By staying in temporary dwellings each year during the Feast of
Tabernacles, God's people are reminded of this important knowledge.
They understand that this physical life is only temporary--that they
are merely pilgrims in this present life, waiting to inherit the
Kingdom of God!

With all this in mind, let's now draw several further analogies,
comparing Israel's 40 years of wandering with the coming
Millennium.

Just as ancient Israel, after escaping from Pharaoh--a type of
Satan-- was given in the wilderness a temporary period of comparative
isolation from Satan's influence, so will the whole world enter 1,000
years of rest from Satan's rule. During that 40 years Israel was
welded into a nation organized under God's government. During the
Millennium, the whole world will be similarly organized under God's
government.

Forty is the number of trial and test. (See in any Bible
concordance how often God's people were tested for 40 days or 40
years.) Israel in the wilderness was a type of all people who will go
through trials and tests in overcoming their human nature, even
during the Millennium.

7. How will God draw the 1,000-year period of testing to a close?
Rev. 20:3, 7-9.

8. Will a condition of permanency finally be reached in the plan
revealed in God's Holy Days of the seventh month? I Kings 8:2.

COMMENT: Ethanim means "[the month of] permanent things."
Next month's lesson will show how and when God's plan leads to
permanency--eternal inheritance instead of "sojourning."

9. After Christ returns and establishes the rule of the Kingdom of
God on earth, will God's Kingdom and government continue to expand?
Isa. 9:7. Also notice Matthew 13:33.

COMMENT: The government of God, like leaven in a lump of dough,
will gradually spread throughout the whole earth in the Millennium.
Eventually thousands of millions will be spiritually converted. The
great harvest of humans, pictured by the autumn harvest in the Holy
Land, will be gathered into the Kingdom of God--born again as divine
members of the ruling Family of God during the Millennium.

By the end of the 1,000 years, the Family of God will be ready for
the final step in God's Master Plan of salvation.

How God's People Keep the Feast Now

1. Will Jerusalem again be chosen as the center of worship in the
Millennium? Zech. 2:12. Is Jerusalem not now the primary place for
all people to keep the Feast of Tabernacles? John 4:21.

COMMENT: Jerusalem was rejected in the autumn of A.D. 66 and
turned over to the Romans. God withdrew His name. But in the
Millennium Jerusalem will again be the place where God's people will
keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

2. Does God intend for His people to be free from this world's
system and its ways? Rev. 18:4; II Cor. 6:14-18. Also notice Exodus
10:7 and 15:1, last part.

COMMENT: God intends the Feast of Tabernacles to separate and free
His people from the world and its evil influences. This great
festival gives them a special time and setting, in which they are
free from the routine cares of the world, to think more about God's
purpose for life and how to attain it.

Living in temporary dwellings for an entire week--away from their
everyday surroundings, jobs and most negative influences--God's
people picture by their observance of these seven days the universal
freedom and peace that will exist when Satan is gone and the Spirit
of God is available to every human (Joel 2:28, 32).

3. Is the Feast of Tabernacles a time of rejoicing for the entire
family? Deut. 12:5, 7, 12; 16:13-14.

COMMENT: Tens of thousands of God's people and their families
enthusiastically look forward annually to observing the Feast at
dozens of sites around the world. It is the highlight of the entire
year!

These are days of continuous, genuine Christian fellowship.
Members and their families participate in various exciting,
fun-filled Church-sponsored activities, as well as sight-seeing and
other special attractions unique to each site. The sincere concern
and fellowship, the spiritual nourishment and just plain good fun
whets one's appetite for the next year's Feast, making the ordinary
"vacations" of the past seem humdrum by comparison!

But just as the Feast of Tabernacles is a physical feast filled
with rejoicing, it is also a spiritual feast of education and
preparation. Members of God's Church receive instruction from God's
ministers through inspiring sermons to help them further prepare to
rule and teach with Christ during the Millennium.

God's people at the Feast demonstrate now, by the way they live
together in harmony, what this entire world could be like if everyone
followed God's laws!

If you have not already read it, our free book The Wonderful World
Tomorrow--What It Will Be Like provides additional understanding. Why
not write for it?

A Glimpse of Tomorrow's World

"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat
straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."
ISAIAH 65:25

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." ISAIAH 35:1

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto
it." ISAIAH 2:2

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem." ISAIAH 2:3

"They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant,
and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people,
and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." ISAIAH
65:22

"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and
old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will
comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." JEREMIAH
31:13

"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more." ISAIAH 2:4

"For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
ZEPHANIAH 3:9

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh" EZEKIEL 36:26

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne." REVELATION 3:21

"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of
the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all
dominions shall serve and obey him." DANIEL 7:27

"And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth
shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and
shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their
yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served
themselves of them." EZEKIEL 34:27

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and
to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even
for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." ISAIAH
9:7

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." ISAIAH
11:6

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea." ISAIAH 11:9

"And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in the streets thereof." ZECHARIAH 8:5

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped. "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert. "And the parched ground shall
become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the
habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and
rushes." ISAIAH 35:5-7

TEST

This multiple choice test is designed to help you review the
preceding lesson. It's an enjoyable way of putting to use some of the
vital knowledge and understanding you have gained through this
lesson.

Select one of the four choices given under each question or
incomplete statement. The other three are incorrect--unless stated or
indicated otherwise.

Take sufficient time to understand each question or statement, as
well as the choices. Try to do as many as you can without referring
to the lesson. If you have difficulty deciding on the correct answer,
then review the part of the lesson in question.

1. After Christ has returned to earth and deposed Satan,

A. the 1,000-year reign of the Kingdom of God on earth will
begin.

B. the firstfruits of God's spiritual harvest--pictured by the
festival of Pentecost--will join Christ in ruling the earth.

C. the great spiritual harvest of humans will begin.

D. All of the above.

2. The Feast of Tabernacles

A. begins seven days after the Day of Atonement.

B. is the sixth of God's seven annual Festivals picturing His plan
of salvation.

C. concludes the spring harvest season in Palestine.

D. pictures the 1,000 years of desolation of the earth after
Christ returns.

3. The New Testament Church of God taught

A. throughout the Roman Empire the truth about the restoration of
the government of God over the earth.

B. that God's Master Plan was complete when the Church was
established.

C. that the Roman Empire was the Kingdom of God.

D. nothing about the rule of Christ and the Spirit-born
saints.

4. Which one of the following statements about the Feast of
Tabernacles is FALSE?

A. The Feast begins with a Holy Day on which all ordinary work is
forbidden.

B. It was also called the Feast of Ingathering.

C. The Feast lasts for a full eight days.

D. It pictures the future ingathering of the great harvest of
Spirit-begotten humans during the Millennium.

5. Who decides where the Feast of Tabernacles is to be
observed?

A. Individual members, who vote once a year.

B. God, who works through the government He has placed in His
Church, leads those in charge to select appropriate sites.

C. Nothing is mentioned about this in the Bible.

D. None of the above.

6. Which one of the statements below is FALSE?

A. King Jeroboam, without God's approval, changed the date the
Feast was to be observed.

B. The Israelites, and later the Jews, were transported into
slavery because of their failure to keep the weekly and annual
Sabbaths.

C. After their return from captivity, the remnant of Jews began to
keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

D. The ancient Israelites throughout their history faithfully kept
the Feast in the way and manner God commanded.

7. The account in John 7 shows that

A. Jesus kept the Feast of Tabernacles, even though faced with
dangerous circumstances.

B. the Jews did not expect Jesus to be in Jerusalem to observe the
Feast.

C. New Testament Christians do not need to keep the Feast.

D. Jesus' brothers and sisters did not keep the Feast.

8. In the Millennium,

A. Gentile nations will not be required to keep the Feast of
Tabernacles.

B. observance of the Feast of Tabernacles will be optional.

C. nations that refuse to keep the Feast will first suffer from
drought, and later plagues, until they submit to God.

D. Christ will abolish God's annual Holy Days.

9. God intends for His people to

A. rejoice during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles.

B. save a second tithe (10th) of their income throughout the year
to be spent in traveling to and attending the Feast.

C. experience during the Feast a foretaste of the prosperity,
happiness and peace the whole world will enjoy.

D. All of the above.

10. When God's Holy Spirit is poured out freely in the
Millennium,

A. humans will have little desire to learn God's way of life.

B. people will begin to express outgoing love and concern for
others.

C. there will be little change in the basic attitude or nature of
humans.

D. None of the above.

11. The coming government of God will

A. be a democracy similar to that in the United States today.

B. rule only over the 12 tribes of Israel.

C. be administered by Christ and the Spirit-born saints.

D. be only temporary.

12. The resurrected saints will

A. have little to do with education in tomorrow's world.

B. educate as well as rule over people.

C. rule, but not educate in the Millennium.

D. always conduct their duties mysteriously and invisibly.

13. Worldwide obedience to God's law in the world tomorrow
will

A. result only in material blessings.

B. have no effect on world peace.

C. result only in spiritual blessings because God's law is
spiritual.

D. result in universal peace, prosperity and happiness for 1,000
years.

14. The Spirit-born leaders in the Millennium will

A. be appointed by Christ.

B. not have been tested and proved in advance during their mortal
lifetime.

C. Be elected to their positions.

D. be susceptible to influence by lobbyists and special interest
groups.

15. In the millennial world pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles,
people will

A. be faced with many pressures to compromise with God's law.

B. worry about their physical needs.

C. no longer have the influence of Satan to contend with.

D. convert their farming tools into weapons of war.

16. Christ's government will

A. provide true justice for all.

B. create fear and unhappiness.

C. enforce harsh laws.

D. not abolish the fear of war.

17. How will mankind be liberated from fear of sickness and
disease in the Millennium?

A. Through doctors, who learn medicine through experimenting on
animals.

B. Through miraculous healing and obedience to God's health
laws.

C. Christ will suspend the laws governing health.

D. Through "miraculous" drugs that will prevent illness.

18. Cities in the world tomorrow will be

A. governed according to God's law.

B. safe to walk in at night.

C. filled with radiantly happy families.

D. All of the above.

19. Which one of the following will NOT be true in the world
tomorrow?

A. The whole earth will undergo remarkable changes--most of the
land's surface will become productive.

B. Material abundance will become commonplace because of
widespread obedience to God's law.

C. The earth will remain as it is today.

D. Christ will establish a pure language.

20. In the Millennium, the 12 tribes of Israel will

A. for the first time become God's model nation--the leaders all
nations will soon want to emulate.

B. not accept Christ's rule over them.

C. refuse to enter into a "perpetual covenant" with Christ.

D. have a relatively minor influence in world affairs.

21. With whom will Christ enter a marriage agreement at His
return?

A. The physical descendants of ancient Israel who are alive at His
coming.

B. Spiritual Israel--which will have "made herself ready."

C. All nations.

D. He will rule all nations but will marry no one.

22. During the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, God's
people

A. are to live in temporary accommodations such as motel and hotel
rooms.

B. rejoice greatly, thus picturing the universal happiness and joy
that will exist during the Millennium.

C. receive instruction from God's Word to help them further
prepare to rule and teach in the Millennium.

D. All of the above.

23. Staying in temporary dwellings--"booths"--during the Feast

A. has no special meaning.

B. was not intended to remind Israel of their 40-year sojourn in
the wilderness.

C. is to remind us that, this physical life is only
temporary--that God's people are merely pilgrims in this present
life, waiting to inherit the Kingdom of God.

D. does not typify the fact that human life and society throughout
the Millennium will be temporary.

24. Which one of the statements below is FALSE?

A. The Apostle Peter did not compare his physical body to a
temporary "tabernacle" (II Pet. 1:14).

B. True Christians are "strangers and pilgrims" in this physical
life (I Pet. 2:11).